BEARING PRECIOUS SEED(Partly from http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Basics/precious_seed.htm)

God says:

Psalms 126:5-6 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

(6) He that goeth forth and weepeth,

bearing precious seed,

shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,

bringing his sheaves with him.

How can we bear fruit in our lives?

Again, it says,

Verse 5, They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

To bear fruit we need to go forth…We cannot bear fruit by doing nothing. We must take deliberate action:

Verse 6, He that goeth forth…

Our Lord gave His Word.

He told us: to GO… We are on a mission To declare good news This is God’s divine plan.

Why should we go?

We should be motivated to go… because... It is God’s desire Because of the value of a soul And, especially so, because it is God’s

command.

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

(19) Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

(20) Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

He Who has all power says Go…

Go teach all nations; in other words make disciples.

What’s stopping you?

What hinders us?

Galatians 5:7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?

It is possible for Christians to get hindered, sidetracked, detoured, from doing what God calls us to…

There are many Hindrances… Feeling inadequate Apathy Maybe, the fear of men

In a way it can boil down to: Who do we fear?

Sometimes we have a greater fear of men than a fear of God.

It goes on… to say:

He that goeth forth AND WEEPETH…

It is easy… To fail to have compassion To neglect to care.

Who will care enough for souls?Who will have a heart broken for the lost?Who will be moved with compassion?Who will get stirred up?

Paul’s spirit got stirred up in him… when he saw the state of the city…

Acts 17:16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred

in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

Our Lord was moved to tears.

Luke 19:41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it…

Our Lord tells of a time in Matthew 24:12 where the love of many would “wax cold”, because of iniquity. Because of the hardness of men’s hearts.

The godless world we live in is ever more ruthless and ‘dog-eat-dog’.

The moral fabric of our society is being torn apart, as sin is legalised and applauded.

Many millions of babies are slaughtered by abortion.

In our boozey culture drunkenness abounds.

Australia loves its sin.

As a nation we are headed for destruction!

Jeremiah was known as the "weeping prophet". He often wept over Israel's rebellion against God and the destruction that they brought upon themselves...

Jeremiah sat amongst the ruins of Jerusalem after the king of Babylon had destroyed the city and carried God's people away into slavery, and he grieved over their sin.

Sin leads to destruction… Shattered lives Families destroyed Broken people

The crying need is all around us.

May we be as Jeremiah, the weeping prophet.

May we be fired with… A burning compassion A desire to tell people what the Lord has

done for us A conviction that translates into action.

We see the wreckage left from the wickedness of our nation in our morgues, our mental hospitals, and our prisons.

May our hearts be broken over sin and in compassion for damaged families and people.

As believers we love the Lord and we love the sinner, but we hate the sin.

Does anyone care?

David felt like that as he prayed in the cave…

Psalm 142:4 I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul. We are called to duty. Called to be a soul rescue station. Called to witness.

There is a call to brokenheartedness over the wickedness of our nation.

Many are led astray in godlessness, and foolishness. Evil saturates our society at every level. The devil is having a field day.

Yet the church by and large sleeps on, oblivious, uncaring. The fear of God is absent and people do what is right in their own eyes.

There is need for warning.

Judgment is at the doors.Get right with God!

Will we be as Paul, who warned with tears:

Acts 20:31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

It is a time to seek after God.

Duncan Campbell said, "In revival the fear of God lays hold upon the community, moving men and women, who until then had no concern for spiritual things, to seek after God."

There is need to see souls…

Moody Saw Souls

Today in the Word, February 1, 1997, p. 6

When Dwight L. Moody was in London during one of his famous evangelistic tours, several British clergymen visited him. They wanted to know how and why this poorly educated American was so effective in winning throngs of people to Christ.

Moody took the three men to the window of his hotel room and asked each in turn what he saw. One by one, the men described the people in the park below.

Then Moody looked out the window with tears rolling down his cheeks. "What do you see, Mr. Moody?" asked one of the men.

"I see countless thousands of souls that will one day spend eternity in hell if they do not find the Savior."

Obviously, D. L. Moody saw people differently than the average observer does. And because he saw eternal souls where others saw only people strolling in a park,

Moody approached life with a different agenda.

Here is how someone has put it:

Evangelism is the sob of God. It is the anguished cry of Jesus as He weeps over a doomed city.It is the cry of Paul, 'I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.'Evangelism is the heart-winning plea of Moses. 'Oh this people have sinned.—Yet now, if thou wilt, forgive their sin—; if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of the book which thou hast written.'It is the cry of John Knox, `Give me Scotland or I die.' It is the declaration of John Wesley, 'The world is my parish.' It is the sob of parents in the night, weeping over a prodigal child.—Selected

There’s a needful call to serious and solemn duty. To see souls as the Saviour sees them.

A need for reverence and godly fear.

1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man

that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

He that goeth forth and weepeth…

This is one who is moved, by… A holy fear A godly awe.

Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Make Him holy in your hearts.

Be ready always.Ever-ready.

To give an answer to every man.

We have a hope in us.And we will go forth and weep in conviction, in passion, as the love of Christ constrains us… This message must be imparted… By you, by me…

The fear of God motivates our actions.

We must GO!We must get out of our comfort zone.Go forth, weeping…

As we truly sense danger. God’s wrath.

As we sense God’s heartbeat…Souls, souls, souls…

We will leave our shallow convictions, our theological coldness, our petty wranglings, and our empty professions.

We will know a fresh encounter with God. A renewal of the fire that we need.

And we will be amongst them who goeth forth and weepeth…

Bearing Precious Seed

The Word of God is the answer.

We must have the precious Seed of God’s Word. New life springs from it…

1 Peter 1:23Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

By the precious seed we are born-again.

The Word of God is pictured as a seed planted – with fresh, new life springing forth, as it finds good soil, as the picture of receptive hearts, and it germinates and brings forth fruit…

It is vital that – we must have the right seed.

Not a message weakened and watered down.

Not a gospel that is sugar coated and diluted and compromised.

But the PRECIOUS SEED… Unadulterated Uncompromised Of which we are unashamed.

The Bible is God’s inspired, infallible, preserved Word.

And in this Book we have the Word of God in the English language… Uncorrupted Faithful Precious.

This seed is of the highest grade, the highest quality. Unblemished. Unfettered. Of which not one iota will pass away.

The soulwinner’s weapon is the Word of God…

Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

We must have it, and impart it, faithfully and fully.

Hold up the light…

Sometimes we can feel we lack the ability to do something for God…

A preacher told the story of a man at sea who was very sea-sick. While this man was sick he heard that a man had fallen overboard. He was wondering if he could do anything to help to save him. He laid

hold of a light, and held it up on the port-hole.

The drowning man was saved. When this man got over his attack of sickness he was up on deck one day, and was talking to the man who was rescued.

The saved man gave this testimony. He said he had gone down the second time, and was just going down again for the last time, when he put out his hand.

Just then, he said, some one held a light at the porthole, and the light fell on his hand. A man caught him by the hand and pulled him into the lifeboat.

It seemed a small thing to do to hold up the light; yet it saved the man's life. If you cannot do some great thing you can hold the light for some poor, perishing drunkard, who may be won to Christ and delivered from destruction.

Let us take the torch of salvation and go into these dark homes, and hold up Christ to the people as the Saviour of the world.

We read in…

Hebrews 4:12For the word of God is quick [alive], and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword,

piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

It’s been said that ‘even the best neurosurgeon in the world cannot pierce between a man’s soul and spirit; but the Word of God can! The Bible can do what every psychologist and psychiatrist in this world cannot do—discern the thoughts and intents of the human heart! What a Book!’http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Basics/precious_seed.htm

As Hebrews 4:12 states, the Bible is “alive” and “powerful.” It is precious!

We dare not hold it back, or neglect to give it!

Sadly we see a diluted gospel, oft times.

We must declare the faithful message, faithfully.

The Bible is the “Precious Seed” that a soul winner bears to lost sinners, praying and hoping for their salvation.

There can be no salvation apart from the incorruptible Word of God.

We will stand fast for this precious seed.We will not be ashamed of the Gospel.

LIFE is here. In a world of BARRENNESS. In a land where there is a famine for the Words of God… Yet, THERE IS PRECIOUS SEED.

It’s a message that MUST be DELIVERED.

We are here… By God’s appointment For His purpose To be bearing precious seed.

THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN AUTHORISED.

Often we will hear a comment like this, at the close of some political announcement – “this message was written and authorised by… (in this case) the King of kings and the Lord of lords”. It is founded upon the highest authority.

We have a message that is authorised.God has authority over us.

And we are authorised to deliver this message. The message of the king. Our King – the Lord Jesus.

Ecclesiastes 8:4 Where the word of a king is, there is power…

Shall Doubtless Come Again with Rejoicing

Doubtless. There is a certainty here. No doubt about it!We can trust in God, as we witness.

God’s promises are yea, and Amen! He will deliver on what He has promised…

Step out, and go.Trust God to do the work.Be faithful.Do not hold back.Do not be hindered.God can do His greatest work through the weakest of His servants.

There is rejoicing here. And there is no greater joy in the world, next to being saved, than to personally win another soul to Jesus Christ.

It is a wonderful feeling that cannot be expressed in words.

We read, in:

Daniel 12:3… And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament;

and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

Soul-winners will shine in Heaven throughout eternity.

It will be precious in Heaven, to meet people who will thank us for telling them

about Jesus, and how to have their sins forgiven.

All the money in the world cannot buy that.

No wonder the Bible says, in:

Romans 10:15…How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Every believer will see the fruit of his labours and will receive a reward from the Master.

Again, our text says,

Bringing His Sheaves with Him

There is a harvest time. God has promised that His Word will not return void… If we sow we will reap a harvest…

Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void,

but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

The preaching of the Word of God is never in vain.

Souls will come to Christ.

Lives will be changed.

Our duty is to give the Good News of Christ crucified to this lost and sinful world, so that they may come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ and have their sins washed away by Jesus’ precious blood.

What kind of a messenger will you be?

Have you got the precious seed?

He that goeth forth and weepeth.Bearing precious seed.

How are we to witness?

“The Gospel is a fact; therefore tell is simply.The Gospel is a joyful fact; therefore tell is cheerfully.The Gospel is an entrusted fact; therefore tell it faithfully.The Gospel is a fact of infinite moment; therefore tell it earnestly.The Gospel is a fact of infinite love; therefore tell in feelingly.The Gospel is a fact of difficult comprehension to many; therefore tell it with illustration.The Gospel is a fact about a Person; therefore preach Christ.”

- Archibald Brown

We have a message – an urgent message. Let us take it seriously.

As someone has put it, ‘Can we be casual in the work of God -- casual when the house is on fire, and people in danger of being burned?’ - Duncan Campbell

There will be a Harvest.Reaping time is near.

For the meantime… Pay the price, and go Recognise the urgency of the hour Be a faithful messenger.

There is a limited time to act.

Let us not slacken now.But rather resolve to be, to do, to act.

We are on the edge of victory - "the Lord is at hand."